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Update: Düsseldorf airport staff strikes Thursday, causing 56 cancelled flights

On Thursday morning, ground staff at Düsseldorf Airport have taken to the picket lines, leading to 56 cancelled flights.

Published: 6 February 2019 17:14 CET
Updated: 7 February 2019 10:24 CET
Update: Düsseldorf airport staff strikes Thursday, causing 56 cancelled flights
Passengers waiting at Düsseldorf airport. Photo: DPA

For language learners: we've highlighted some useful vocabulary in this news story. You'll find the German translations at the bottom of the article.

The industrial action is directed against the company Aviapartner, which handles around 60 percent of the aircrafts taking off from Düsseldorf.

Airlines have cancelled 56 take-offs and landings during the strike period, which started at 3 a.m. and is scheduled to last until 11 a.m. A total of around 210 flights had been planned during the strike period, and around 580 flights are planned for all of Thursday. 

Among those affected by the industrial action are the market leader Eurowings and the holiday airline Condor. According to their own statements, Laudamotion and Tuifly are not affected.

According to the airport, there are delays in the handling and unloading of baggage. However, aircrafts could also be prevented from taking off because the mobile stairs needed for passengers to board and disembark might be missing.

SEE ALSO: Flight cancellations as Eurowings employees strike in Düsseldorf

The collective bargaining dispute concerns employees who load and unload aircrafts and take care of luggage and freight. The so-called warning strike is scheduled to last from 3 am to 11 am.

How could travellers be affected?

A total of 140 flights could be directly or indirectly affected by the strike, the airport reports. It is unclear whether the second baggage service provider at the airport, Acciona, will possibly take over some of the tasks.

The airport recommends passengers flying from Düsseldorf on Thursday to check with their airline about the current status of their flight, and any baggage regulations before they depart for the airport.

Condor and Eurowings advised passengers to take all important items into their hand luggage.

“If the large items cannot be loaded, the beach holiday starts with small luggage,” an airline manager told RP Online, adding that if suitcases are left lying around, an attempt would be made to deliver them quickly.

Condor has raised the limit for allowed hand luggage from six kilos to eight kilos per person. Eurowings asks passengers to take their baggage on board, although both airlines point out that the limits for the permitted size of hand baggage must be adhered to. Passengers are therefore not allowed to bring large suitcases into the cabin.

Background of the strikes

The strikes are in response to current working conditions at the airport. Ground handling at the airport takes place “around the clock”, service union Verdi emphasized on Wednesday.

“The physically strenuous work must be better rewarded. Specifically, the union demands, among other things, a Christmas and holiday bonus as well as better payment for night, shift, and holiday work,” Verdi negotiations leader Peter Büddicker said.

Büddicker,criticized that the employers had not submitted an offer so far.

During the strike, according to the airport, service staff will be deployed in the terminal in order to provide the affected passengers with advice and assistance if necessary.

A total of around 580 outbound and inbound flights are planned at Düsseldorf Airport on Thursday.

Verdi is currently negotiating collective agreements for various groups of ground staff at German airports. Warning strikes have also occurred, resulting in flight cancellations and delays.

On Monday, dozens of flights were cancelled at Hamburg Airport, when ground handling staff were on strike all day.

Verdi has called for a warning strike at Hanover Airport on Thursday in addition to the employees in Düsseldorf.

SEE ALSO: Dozens of flights cancelled in Hamburg as ground staff strike

Industrial action – Arbeitskampf

Is directed – richtet sich

Holiday airline – Ferienflieger

Warnstreik – warning strikes

Service union – Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft

Collective agreements (or wage agreements) – Tarifverträge

To negotiate – verhandeln

Advised – raten

We're aiming to help our readers improve their German by translating relevant vocabulary from our news stories of the day. Did you find articles like these useful? Do you have any suggestions? Let us know.

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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